There has been a lot of discussion over the past few days about the Liverpool Arsenal tie in the UEFA Champions League. Unfortunately, it's been centered on the controversial penalty kick decision and no decision in each of the two games. After watching the replay of both events numerous times it is clear to me that both were fouls inside the box and deserved a penalty.
In the first leg, Kuyt (Liverpool) fouled Hleb (Arsenal - min 14 on video). Notice the jerk on Hleb's body from the tug by Kuyt. The resulting tug on his upper body twisted him enough so that his right foot (next step) was pulled off the ground. Hleb's right foot missed the ground as a result, causing him to fall over in the box. In this situation, no penalty was called and the game ended 1-1.
In the second leg, Toure (Arsenal) fouled Babel (Liverpool). Although Fabregas (Arsenal) initially made contact with Babel outside the box, the contact in the box from the other direction by Toure caused Babel to fall. The replay clearly shows Toure all over Babel's back causing Babel's body to twist in the other direction. What is most telling in this replay is Babel's effort to keep his balance. Notice that he keeps his legs moving despite being fouled. This is a clear sign that he was trying to keep his balance but could not because of the resulting contact by Toure. In this situation, a penalty was called and Liverpool went on to win 4-2.
In my mind, it's easy to establish the fact (when watching the replay) that these were both fouls inside the box. I don't think most objective people, after watching these two clips could say that either of them were not fouls. A foul inside the penalty box should equal a penalty kick.
Having established this, let's move on to the real problem. The natural reaction, considering the sequence of events (the penalty called resulted in the winning goal for Liverpool), is to blame the referees for the Arsenal loss. Objectively you cannot say that the referees were the difference. The only way that you can make that statement is if you make both of these calls isolated incidents and assume that they in no way affected the other 179 minutes played. That is, you have to take these incidents out of context.
For arguments sake, let's assume that the first call (in the first leg) was correctly called a penalty. You have to start here because it happened first. Does that automatically mean a goal for Arsenal? Do 100% of penalties taken go in? I've been around the sport long enough to know the answer to that question is "no". But, let’s say that it did go in and the first game ended 2-1 in Arsenal’s favor. Now what? The entire strategy, formation, and even players involved in the second game are potentially different then what actually happened on Tuesday. That is, you can’t change the past without altering the future. This would render everything that happened after that non-call in the first game irrelevant and even potentially non-existent. Would we witness the exact same game on Tuesday if that call would have been made correctly in the first leg? Absolutely not. We can’t even begin to imagine what would have happened going forward. For all we know Liverpool would have still won the second game…or maybe Arsenal would have…and maybe there wouldn’t have been a second penalty call at all. The bottom line is that we will never know what would have happened if we change the scenario going into the second leg.
Did the referees influence the games by their decisions? Absolutely. Referees make dozens of decisions each game that influence the outcome. That is their job. Does this mean that they are responsible for the outcome? No way. You can’t make that assertion in this case. That would be too easy…almost lazy…especially in a tie that involves two separate games and especially in a situation where to make all things right you have to change a decision very early on in a process that is already entirely built upon that event and every other event from that point forward. I’m sorry to tell you this Arsenal fans, but your team was responsible for the outcome, not the referee. You had 179 other minutes of opportunity to beat Liverpool and you just plain didn’t get it done. At some point you and your manager have to accept responsibility for the result on the field…and, interestingly enough, when you start to do that you’ll probably win something.